1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to aircraft and, in particular, to control surfaces for aircraft. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for moving a control surface on an aircraft.
2. Background
The movement of an aircraft in different directions may be controlled using control surfaces. For example, control surfaces may be used to rotate an aircraft to change a pitch, roll, and/or yaw of the aircraft. Additionally, control surfaces also may be used to change the coefficient of lift of wings on an aircraft. A control surface may be, for example, without limitation, an aileron, an elevator, a rudder, a spoiler, a flap, a slat, an airbrake, an elevator trim, or some other suitable type of control surface.
Flaps may be located at the trailing edge of a wing of an aircraft. These flaps are often used to reduce the stalling speed of an aircraft during phases of flight, such as, for example, without limitation, takeoff and landing. In particular, extending flaps increases the camber of the wing airfoil, which, in turn, increases the maximum lift coefficient. The camber is the difference between the top and bottom curves of the wing airfoil. The increase in the maximum lift coefficient allows the aircraft to generate a given amount of lift with a slower speed. In this manner, extending the flaps reduces the stalling speed of the aircraft.
Typically, with currently used aircraft, flaps, along with other control surfaces, are present along a trailing edge of each wing of the aircraft. These other control surfaces may be, for example, flaperons. A flaperon is a control surface that combines aspects of a flap in an aileron. A flaperon may be used to control the roll of an aircraft, but also may be lowered to function in the same way as a flap. The movement of flaps independently of a flaperon may generate more noise than desired.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus that takes into account some of the issues discussed above, as well as other possible issues.